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Veteran Maine guide Roger Lambert took our crew into the hills of Franklin County and into the mountains of western Maine. There were sightings of tracks and beds, but no visible moose.

Although it is the most difficult time of the year to spot them, the inability to spot the official animal of Maine is relatively new in the western mountains.

"We are easily,and I say this confidently, we are down about half our moose population, Lambert said.

According to Lambert, shed hunters in southern parts of Franklin County began noticing an unusually large number of dead moose in the early spring of 2010. Each of the dead animals was covered with tens of thousands of winter ticks.

"They just get bled to death," Lambert said. "After a rough winter, there is nothing left of them and the mortality is huge. Experts might have known about it and thought about it and were studying it, but the cry went up quick and hard from the outdoor community."

"There is quite a bit of knowledge and information out there but the winter tick situation is very complex," said Lee Kantar of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the state's leading moose biologist.

Kantar is in charge of a five-year study of mortality rates in moose, particularly calves and cows, from winter ticks. The study tracks 35 adults and 35 calves through one winter using GPS collars to monitor their whereabouts and well-being. So far, study areas have been in the western mountains and as far north as the town of Jackman.

"Our first year of our study, we lost 73 percent of our calves, and this past winter we lost 60 percent of our collared moose calves just in the study area," Kantar said. "Does that happen every year? That's a problem."

Still, Kantar says survey flights reveal that the northern most parts of the state, where moose will be collared next, continue to be high-density areas. That part of the study could reveal more about if and how changes in climate are related.

"There are differences with snow depths and how long winters are that all affect them, especially the driving force of winter tick," Kantar said.

Kantar said that despite his research thus far, there are skeptics. Some wonder about the effects of collaring and others speculate on areas of forest that have changed from hardwood to soft.

"We all want the same thing," Lambert said. "We want a healthy, vibrant moose population for us all to enjoy, however we do it, for the good of the animal."

At this point, there might be more questions than answers. Biologists like Kantar stress that it will take time and patience.

"We're two years into it, we've got more to go, and so the whole story needs to play out scientifically over the course of the study," Kantar said.

In 2015, Maine issued about 10 percent fewer moose hunting permits than in 2014. Kantar said it's too soon to tell whether that will be the case again in 2016.